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In a letter dated Wednesday, March 5th to Secretary of U.S. Health and Human Services Kathleen Sebelius, Pennsylvania Governor Tom Corbett proposed an alternative option to a job search requirement tied to Medicaid Expansion.

Senator Sean D. Wiley (D-Erie) released the following statement following that announcement:

“I am pleased to see the governor has taken a step back from tying a job search requirement to the opportunity to provide affordable health care to hundreds of thousands of people in this Commonwealth.

“From the very day the administration’s Healthy PA plan was unveiled, I said it would be difficult to impose such a condition of Medicaid eligibility. There are many examples of men and women in this state who may not have the opportunity to look for a job due to the fact they must care for a child at home. That is not a reason to deny those men and women affordable access to health care.

“While I applaud this decision and look forward to learning more about the Encouraging Employment modification, I will say that it is unfortunate that the process of expanding Medicaid benefits to hard-working Pennsylvanians has been delayed this long and will continue to be delayed, as we await approval of the plan from the federal government.

“The right thing to do would be to implement Medicaid expansion as proposed by the federal government and move forward.”

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